Ugh! Really Stupid Mistake

Ever make a horribly stupid mistake that just makes you want to bang your head against a wall?Yesterday I dropped James off at karate and noticed the car was almost out of gas so I headed to a nearby gas station to fill up quick before running some errands.

Now I should add that I HATE pumping gas. I will use our truck over the car just to avoid it. It’s one of the few, rare errands that just make me crazy and after 11 years of marriage, Josh has nicely taken over this task for the most part. So it’s a rare day that I pump gas myself and I’ve sort of gotten out of the habit of it.

So I hopped out of the car with both my wallet and phone in my hand and pull out the pump and notice it leaking all over the place. It leaks right down the side of the car and I put my phone and wallet on the top of the car to protect them and grab some paper towels to clean up the mess.

Can you guess what I did next? I cleaned up the mess, finished pumping gas, hopped back in the car and drove away – with my brand new iPhone and wallet on the roof! UGH!

I realized my mistake less than 2 minutes later as I was pulling into the bank and noticed my wallet was missing from my purse. Where is it? Oh my gosh! Where is it!??? I hop out of the car and luckily, thankfully, my iPhone had stuck to the back of the car and not fallen off. My wallet was nowhere to be seen.

I rushed back to the gas station, searching the road for any sign of a wallet. The gas station attendant told me frankly that this was a bad part of town to lose a wallet and shrugged his shoulders. I headed back along the route I’d driven and noticed a black lump in the road. Could that be it???

I parked in a nearby lot and ran over and YES! it was my wallet! Whew! Giant sigh of relief!

Then I opened it up and found all the cash, checks, and one credit card gone. UGH! For a minute I was outraged, but then I realized just how lucky I was. Whoever had stolen my cash had thrown the wallet back in the road where I could find it. I won’t have to replace my drivers license, all the miscellaneous discount cards and bank cards that could have been stolen.

And really – none of it would have been stolen if I hadn’t left the wallet on top of my car! Yes, it was  a horribly stupid mistake, but it could have ended very differently. I’m chucking it up to a learning experience and yet another reason why I don’t pump gas.

Let’s go quilt,

Leah Day

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

19 Responses

  1. Cindy says:

    I hate pumping gas too! I love visiting my sister in Oregon; self-service pumps are not allowed.

  2. I'm curious, what happened to the Iphone?

  3. Robbie says:

    Sorry…but I had to laugh…not funny…just your statement on not pumping gas!!! Whew! Yes, it could have been so much worse….glad it was only one credit card and some cash!

  4. I should add that that what always made me feel better after this type of incident (3 times for me) is assuring myself that the person desperately needed the money.

  5. Yeah, as stressful as that had to have been (and I know it was), you got off easy, thank goodness (ask me how I know). Isn't it AMAZING how fast people can get to an abandoned wallet??? And how often it's someone who'd rather rob you than try to find you to return it? I keep telling my nephew, who is mentally challenged, that there is a lot more good in the world than all the bad he is seeing in the news. But in the case of a dropped or misplaced wallet, I've found just the opposite to be true.

  6. Jacqueline says:

    Well that is a life lesson for you. One that I think most of us have learned the hard way.

  7. QuiltSwissy says:

    Luckily I have only left my coffee on the roof. But it made the ride all the way to work!

    About 3 years ago, someone smashed our van's window and stole my purse while we were at a restaurant. Never found it. In the 15 minutes it took us to call the police, they had already charged $140 worth of gas. They must have friends waiting and they all get fill-ups.

    the thing I missed most was my photos.

  8. Kelly Gill says:

    I went to the petrol station after getting my daughter from school yesterday arvo. I had to put petrol in the car and a petrol can for my husband to use with the chainsaw. I opened the lid of the petrol can and started filling, I forget to open the car tank lid. So I was doing that when I was also filling the petrol can and I took my eyes of it and next thing I had petrol all over the ground and my daughter's PE uniform. So now I have petrol smell to get of her uniform, lucky I gave a week before she needs it again. I was telling my husband when he got home and he said so you wasted a bit of fuel, oh well we have all done that. They both had a good giggle at the thought of it.

  9. Laura Tucker says:

    oh what a sick feeling. You might want to monitor your credit for the next several months and consider moving to Oregon. Keep up the beautiful work you do

  10. Leah Day says:

    It stuck to the back of the car! I was so pleased it didn't bounce off because that would have been REALLY bad!

  11. Leah Day says:

    Lol! I'm laughing at myself too. It's a bit diva-ish which is not normally like me, but I think everyone has that thing they don't like to do and try to get out of.

  12. Leah Day says:

    Oh, I canceled the card within minutes of it happening. No problem there! As soon as I saw it was missing I double checked the charges and had a new card issued. Annoying, but definitely necessary!

  13. Leah Day says:

    Really??? That sounds divine!

  14. Leah Day says:

    Yeah, that's sort of the mentality I took. They must have needed the cash, or at least they were nice enough to chuck the wallet back out on the street and not hide it or throw it away. Odd to think of a thief as nice, but this one kind of was!

  15. NJ too, Leah. Jersey Girls don't pump gas and there are T's made with that printed on the front. Anywhoo, OR is a better state perhaps to live in although I love NJ warts and all. AND I don't care if you left your entire bank monies in public. I should not be touched but returned. Don't blame yourself. It's a thief any way you cut it.

  16. Exactly! Just leave me my driver's license (and hopefully my credit card). Take the d**m cash. lol

  17. feeschiffl says:

    So sorry to hear it. My dad once left a teacake on the roof of the car…but not for very long. At least if the person took it at the petrol station, they will probably be on CCTV along with their number plate!

  18. claudia says:

    Luckily, all I have lost to filling up my tank is my gas cap. I feel blessed for that! What a pain in the neck though to have to wait for that one card. I had someone somehow get the number to my card online and charged about $75 worth of stuff. Luckily the bank covered that, but I still had to wait for a new card. I use that card for everything, so for about three weeks I had to go to the bank and get cash every time I needed to buy something. I am glad for you that it wasn't any worse than it was!

  19. Martha says:

    OH Leah, that is an awful experience!!!! In Oregon we have gas attendants. We aren't allowed to pump our gas by law!!! I Love it? The only problem is if we're traveling I have no clue how to do it!!!! Take care and thank you for all your free motion quilting tips!!

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